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THE TURK AND THE BEDOUIN.

far handsomer than the Italians; evidently betraying the mixture of Greek blood, which, in many cases, has nearly obliterated the marks of their barbaric origin. But about the Bedouins there is no mistake possible: their high broad foreheads, bushy eyebrows, thin lips, -with no cross of the Negro in them, and small dark fiery eye, bespeak at once the free inhabitant of the desert, before whom the tax-eaten fellah and the effeminate Caireen tremble and are abashed. These regarded us with peculiar earnestness as we brushed by them in the bazār; revolving, probably, in their minds, how much they should have liked to try conclusions with us in the desert- perhaps their gaze was that of mere curiosity. The Turk, when encountered on the road, endeavours to enter into conversation, and is annoyed at his own failure; the Bedouin bids you good morning or evening; or says, "Peace be with you!" and passes on. Inquiring, at the Coptic convent, how many Christians there might be in the town, I was told between fifty and sixty. A repetition of the same answer again, will cause me to suspect that "between fifty and sixty," like the sexcenties of the Romans, is merely used to signify an indefinite number, about which the speaker knows nothing precisely. Both Ekhmim and Minshich are fortified towns; but the walls will scarcely keep out the jackals.

Wednesday, Jan. 2. Bellianeh. CCII. Departing with the dawn, we beheld, soon after sunrise, one of those magical scenes which the tropics and their vicinity, I imagine, can alone fur

LARGE-TAILED SHEEP.

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nish. The mountains, cleft into numerous chains, and ascending in pinnacles of various heights, were enveloped by the haze of the morning; thick, heavy, and white in the valleys; more silvery about the summits, which, thus veiled, appeared almost transparent; while tints of indescribable brilliancy were diffused over the sky, and reflected from the river. A little to the north of Es-Serat, we landed, and walked on towards the village, where the eastern plain is wide, and highly cultivated. The Nile, flowing serenely, with many creeks, sharp inlets, and small woody islands in its channel, has the appearance of a beautiful lake, diffusing its placid shining waters among groves of date and doum palms, mimosas, acacias, and tamarisks, fringing its banks, and concealing its extent from the eye.

The

CCIII. It was market-day at Es-Serat. farmers had brought thither their grain, the bakers their bread, the fishermen their fish, and the butchers their cattle, ready to be killed as wanted. The sheep, which were feeding on fine rich clover, brought to the market for the purpose, had the large heavy tails mentioned by Herodotus*; which, however, resembled not the tails of the Cape sheep in

* It must, however, be acknowledged that in length they fall far short of the historian's description: σε δύο δὲ γένεα οΐων σφί ἐστι, θαύ ματος ἄξια, τὰ οὐδαμόθι ἑτέρωθι ἐστι τὸ μὲν αὐτέων ἕτερον ἔχει τὰς οὐρὰς μακρὰς, τριῶν πηχέων οὐκ ἐλάσσονας, τὰς εἴ τις ἐπείη σφι ἐπέλκειν, ἕλκεα ἂν ἔχοιεν, ἀνατριβομενέων πρὸς τῇ γῇ τῶν οὐρέων· νῦν δ ̓ ἄπας τις τῶν ποιμένων ἐπίσταται ξυλουργέειν ες τοσουτὸ, ἁμαξίδας γὰρ ποιεῦντες, ὑποδέουσι αὐτὰς τῇσι οὐρῇσι, ἑνὸς ἑκάστου κτήνεος τὴν οὐρὴν ἐπὶ ἁμαξίδα kkáσtηv katadkoVTEC."— Herodotus, lib. iii. c. 113.

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VILLAGE MARKET.

prints of natural history, small at the root and increasing towards the point; but the contrary, being about eight inches in breadth at the root, and diminishing gradually to the end. These sheep were nearly all of a brown colour. Several of the cattle seemed to be of the Indian breed, small, and with a hunch upon the back, like the Brahmini bulls. The market was held on the outside of the village, among the date trees, at the foot of which the butchers slaughtered their cattle, permitting the blood to flow about for the dogs, many of which are seen lapping it up warm, close to the throat of the animal before it was dead. The head of the beast about to be killed was turned towards Mekka, and its throat cut with prayers, and in the name of God:-"Bism' illah, ya allah akbar!" One of the butchers we observed belabouring the body of a headless ox with a long stick to make the skin come off the more easily. On the whole, I never beheld a more disgusting sight; for the people assembled, of both sexes and of all ages, seemed to have monopolised ugliness, squalidness, and filth; and several of the men had a most truculent atrocious aspect, like that of certain galley-slaves whom I once saw at the Mount St. Michael. Among the crowd were a few little negro slaves, looking plump and contented; and a great number of one-eyed people, young and old, proofs of the existence and ravages of ophthalmia. am surprised that the buffalo, which yields so large a quantity of excellent milk, should not hitherto have been introduced into England. In Egypt it forms the riches of the peasant.

I

OLD CAPITAL OF UPPER EGYPT.

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CCIV. On returning to the kandjias, we saw a large crocodile on the eastern bank, standing on the sands, in the midst of a number of white ibises. Though quite out of the reach of a fowling piece, he was terrified at our appearance, and immediately plunged into the river. The wheat in this neighbourhood was at least eighteen inches high. The doum tree is still rare; as is also the Egyptian sycamore, or Pharaoh's Fig-tree, so plentiful in the Delta; but I observed a noble specimen to-day, near the Nile. Late in the afternoon we passed Girgeh, formerly the capital of Upper Egypt. This city stands close to the river, and is adorned with numerous mosques, whose elegant minarets and spacious domes, appearing at intervals between the luxuriant date trees, which confer upon the place the aspect of a grove, have an aspect of grandeur which I had nowhere remarked south of Cairo. Girgeh seems to be a very considerable town, having the appearance of carrying on a great inland trade; and numerous boats were now building on the shore. The view towards the eastern mountains is extensive and varied, though less so than from near Minshieh; but the plain country around is rich and fertile, and the river of an unusual breadth. It was, when we passed, the hour when an oriental landscape is beheld to most advantage; when the rays of the sun, nearly approaching its setting, seem to embrace the objects round which they stream like a flood, creating interminable shadows, with all those amazing contrasts resulting from the richest intermingling of light and shade. The wind

being fair, we reserved Girgeh until our return; and pushed on to Bellianeh. The crocodiles are here very numerous, and great numbers of them were to-day observed basking on the eastern bank; yet one of our men jumped into the river after his red cap, and swam a considerable distance; a proof that very little fear is entertained of them. Sir Frederic Henniker imagined that the seed of the male palm perfumed the air even in December; but he would seem to have been deceived by the scent of the bean-flower, for the palm tree is still perfectly inodorous, and emits but a faint fragrance, even in spring, when the operation of conveying the pollen from the male to the female tree is performed.

Thursday, Jan. 3. Near Khiam.

or

CCV. Quitting Bellianeh at an early hour, we proceeded across the country towards This, Abydos, the Arabat Metfooneh, or "Arabat beneath the sands," of the Arabs. Strabo's description of the palace of King Memnon, which he visited eighteen centuries ago, excited our curiosity. Riding on hastily, therefore, anxious to behold the magnificent ruin, we directed our course towards the Libyan mountains, which are here of great height and most rugged aspect, presenting a series of lofty cliffs, in many places entirely perpendicular; our path lying over one of the richest and most highly cultivated plains in Egypt, now covered with luxuriant crops of clover, lentils, lupines, onions, sugar-cane, wheat, and about two thousand acres of beans in blossom; and